A gentle, masterful exploration of growing up and coming to terms with the past.
A novel about growing pains, redemption and the steady presence of the natural world.
Rector’s debut focuses on one summer in the life of 15-year-old Eva Robinson, a tomboyish girl whose greatest ambition is to live in the cabin of her close older friend, Cyril Bankstrom, in the Adirondacks. She visits the camp where Cyril lives every summer with her parents, and she’s grown up there in beautiful surroundings. This summer, however, her world is changing: Her father isn’t there, as he’s been imprisoned for a drunken driving incident that killed an innocent person, and her mother is anxious and unsure of how to deal with Eva now that she’s an adolescent girl. Eva spends time with Cyril, as she always has, but another major addition to her life is Jared, a boy her age whose family lives in the area. He’s as enchanted with the area’s old guide boats as Eva is with the mountains, and they spend a tender, tentative nine days together before they part ways. Over the course of the summer, Eva confronts issues that help to shape her into the woman she will become, and her cold disposition toward her father and her unwillingness to empathize with her mother both soften over the course of the book. Cyril is a spiritual man who talks often of God and forgiveness, and he influences Eva during this critical summer in ways that resonate throughout the work. Rector does an admirable job of narrating the inner lives of his characters, including those of a teenage girl, a woman supporting her imprisoned husband, and a man nearing the end of a life spent in the wilderness. He treats them all with care, never allowing any of them—even Datus, the town drunk—to descend to the level of stereotype. Although the novel has tragic elements and fairly mature themes, it’s still suitable for young teenagers to read. Indeed, the guidance Cyril gives Eva comes through so strongly that it may help young people struggling with finding their own places in the adult world.
A gentle, masterful exploration of growing up and coming to terms with the past.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1938467684
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Koehler Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This first novel, ostensibly about the friendship between two boys, Reuven and Danny, from the time when they are fourteen on opposing yeshiva ball clubs, is actually a gently didactic differentiation between two aspects of the Jewish faith, the Hasidic and the Orthodox. Primarily the Hasidic, the little known mystics with their beards, earlocks and stringently reclusive way of life. According to Reuven's father who is a Zionist, an activist, they are fanatics; according to Danny's, other Jews are apostates and Zionists "goyim." The schisms here are reflected through discussions, between fathers and sons, and through the separation imposed on the two boys for two years which still does not affect their lasting friendship or enduring hopes: Danny goes on to become a psychiatrist refusing his inherited position of "tzaddik"; Reuven a rabbi.... The explanation, in fact exegesis, of Jewish culture and learning, of the special dedication of the Hasidic with its emphasis on mind and soul, is done in sufficiently facile form to engage one's interest and sentiment. The publishers however see a much wider audience for The Chosen. If they "rub their tzitzis for good luck,"—perhaps—although we doubt it.
Pub Date: April 28, 1967
ISBN: 0449911543
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1967
Hoffman (The Red Garden, 2011, etc.) births literature from tragedy: the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple, the siege of Masada and the loss of Zion.
This is a feminist tale, a story of strong, intelligent women wedded to destiny by love and sacrifice. Told in four parts, the first comes from Yael, daughter of Yosef bar Elhanan, a Sicarii Zealot assassin, rejected by her father because of her mother's death in childbirth. It is 70 CE, and the Temple is destroyed. Yael, her father, and another Sicarii assassin, Jachim ben Simon, and his family flee Jerusalem. Hoffman's research renders the ancient world real as the group treks into Judea's desert, where they encounter Essenes, search for sustenance and burn under the sun. There too Jachim and Yael begin a tragic love affair. At Masada, Yael is sent to work in the dovecote, gathering eggs and fertilizer. She meets Shirah, her daughters, and Revka, who narrates part two. Revka's husband was killed when Romans sacked their village. Later, her daughter was murdered. At Masada, caring for grandsons turned mute by tragedy, Revka worries over her scholarly son-in-law, Yoav, now consumed by vengeance. Aziza, daughter of Shirah, carries the story onward. Born out of wedlock, Aziza grew up in Moab, among the people of the blue tunic. Her passion and curse is that she was raised as a warrior by her foster father. In part four, Shirah tells of her Alexandrian youth, the cherished daughter of a consort of the high priests. Shirah is a keshaphim, a woman of amulets, spells and medicine, and a woman connected to Shechinah, the feminine aspect of God. The women are irretrievably bound to Eleazar ben Ya'ir, Masada's charismatic leader; Amram, Yael's brother; and Yoav, Aziza's companion and protector in battle. The plot is intriguingly complex, with only a single element unresolved. An enthralling tale rendered with consummate literary skill.
Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1747-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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